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Given that Jesus was the word made flesh (John 1:14) we will not be surprised at all that he made use of the Old Testament in his teaching. However, we might be surprised how much of his teaching and instruction is based on the five books of Moses, Genesis – Deuteronomy. These two studies will confine our examinations to the way Matthew and John focus on those five books. It must be appreciated that the examples we examine briefly are only a few of the examples that are to be found in those books. We will see that Jesus accepted those books as the inspired word of God and spoke of real literal events. We will see also that Jesus highlighted Divine principles which were in operation before the giving of the Law of Moses at Sinai.

Readings: 2 Samuel 22; Jeremiah 25; Romans 13-14

We come to share bread and wine in order to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. In him we can be ‘counted righteous’ and reconciled to God. This is something quite wonderful. Sometimes, however, we wonder about our relationship with the Father. He is so high above us, we cannot see Him, and we can imagine He is almost ‘unknowable’. This can worry us, especially when we read Paul’s quotation (from Isaiah 45:23) in today’s reading: 

The Gospel was being revealed slowly through covenants. In part one, we viewed three ancient covenants – Creation, Eden and Noah. We noted the recurring “covenant formula” – I will be your God and you shall be my people. 

4. Abraham – God reiterated to Moses, part of his covenant with Abraham 500 years earlier:

Readings: 2 Samuel 14; Jeremiah 18; Romans 1-2

In the world we live in everything has to happen today, now, or better still yesterday! Everything revolves around our needs; we shouldn’t have to wait. I suppose that our lives are brief and it is possible that if we do not get what we want right now, we might not get it at all. Solomon sums it up in Ecclesiastes 5:18-20: 

Readings: 2 Samuel 6; Jeremiah 11; Matthew 22

In our readings today we are looking at when David brought the ark of the LORD to Jerusalem, and when Jesus told the parable of a certain King who invited guests to the marriage for his son. 

David’s preparation to bring the Ark to Jerusalem

(Reading: Luke 16:1-12)

The parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16 is possibly the most difficult of Jesus’ parables to unravel, since on face value it appears to be teaching quite unchristian behaviours. 

The man depicted by Jesus in the parable is clearly a crook; he has defrauded his master, and when called to account does not seek to try to redress the issue by repaying what he has defrauded. Nor does he consider honest labour or even begging as an option. Instead, he sets about providing for his immediate future by defrauding his master even more, by unilaterally writing down the value of debts that others owed to the master.

Definition of a Parable:  A parable is literally a similitude.  Put another way, a Parable is a story that might have happened that Jesus told to illustrate a doctrine or to make a duty clear. Parables were spoken by the King to those who were interested in the Kingdom of God.  They were designed to make men think!